


Not A Party Person

by amybri2002



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, implied panic attack, virgil's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 22:57:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17068775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002
Summary: Roman decides to throw a surprise birthday party for his roommate, Virgil, but not all goes to plan...





	Not A Party Person

**Author's Note:**

> it's virgil's birthday! yay! i wrote a thing to celebrate so here's a thing, hope y'all enjoy!

It was loud. Too loud. And the lights were so bright, and the warm was so warm, and Virgil felt suffocated. Why had his roommate thought this would be a good idea? Roman _knew_ that Virgil wasn't a party person, and yet he had planned a surprise birthday party anyway. This should have been _his_ day.

He had somehow found himself in Roman's bedroom, curled up on the beanbag that Roman had by his window. It was soft, comforting, and with the door shut tight, Virgil could feel safe. Of course, going to his own bedroom would have made more sense, and he would have done if it hadn't been for the crowd of people standing outside his door.

How had he even got himself in this mess?

Virgil thought back to a couple days ago, when the two roommates had been sat on the sofa in their apartment, with Steven Universe on in the background - Roman had chosen it, and Virgil had pretended to be annoyed, but they both knew he secretly loved it.

_"When's your birthday?" Roman asked, out of the blue._

_Virgil frowned. "Why?"_

_He shrugged. "Just out of curiosity."_

_"It's, uh..." Virgil hesitated. He had only been living with Roman for a couple months, since the two had started university, but the two were close. So close. It felt as if they had known each other for far longer. It should have been a surprise that Roman didn't already know Virgil's birthday, but at the same time, Virgil had never been one for birthdays. "It's this weekend," he finally said._

_"What?!" Roman screamed, causing Virgil to flinch back. "This weekend? How didn't I know that?"_

_Virgil merely shrugged. "I, uh, I guess it never came up in conversation?"_

_Roman stared at him a shock. "We need to get ready, then, if it's so soon."_

_"No, no, it's fine," Virgil quickly said, waving his hands around as if it signal him to stop. "Really, I don't mind. You don't need to do or get anything for me."_

_"It's your birthday, Verge, of course I do!" Roman retaliated._

_Virgil sucked in a breath of air. "Okay, if you... if you insist." A smile grew across Roman's face. "But... nothing too extravagant, okay?"_

_He nodded enthusiastically. "Got it!"_

He guessed that Roman didn't get it, at all. Virgil didn't even know half the people at this party. All he wanted to do was sleep, but the music blasting down the corridor was still too loud. Plus, anybody could have walked through that door. It wasn't even his room!

Virgil breathed in and out, and closed his eyes, willing for the throbbing in his head to go away. At some point Roman would notice that he had gone, and he'd come to find him, and Virgil would be forced back out there. Maybe he shouldn't have come back home tonight. What had he been doing before?

_His friend, Logan, worked at the coffee shop down the road from their apartment. Sometimes Virgil would go in and just chill, grab a cup of hot chocolate maybe. Logan was always there to keep him safe._

_"It's your birthday today, correct?" Logan asked, as he handed Virgil his usual cup of hot chocolate._

_Virgil nodded. "Yeah, but, uh, I kinda wanted to keep in on the down-low, y'know?"_

_"I completely understand," Logan replied, and Virgil knew he was telling the truth. "I, too, find birthdays to be... stress-inducing."_

_Virgil let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God, I'm not the only one."_

_"Still, I insist that you take this drink on the house," Logan offered._

_"Are... are you sure? I have the money ready..."_

_"Consider it a birthday present from me."_

_"Huh." Virgil smiled. "Thanks, dude."_

_"It's no problem," Logan said, as Virgil turned around and lifted himself up to sit on the counter. Nobody else was in the coffee shop, so he was able to sit wherever he liked. Logan never protested against it._

_The two sat for a while in silence. At some point, Virgil got out his phone and began to scroll mindlessly through Tumblr, whilst Logan got out his book on astronomy or something and began to read. It was slowly starting to get dark outside, but Virgil didn't move at all. Earlier that morning, Roman had requested for him to not return to the apartment until after seven, anyway. Why, Virgil didn't know, or wanted to know, really._

_"Are you planning on doing anything in celebrations?" Logan inquired._

_"No- God, no," Virgil replied. "Literally just sitting here is perfect. I think Roman had something planned, though."_

_Logan frowned. "Roman?"_

_"My roommate," Virgil clarified. Strange - how had Virgil not told Logan about Roman before? Surely that would be something that he would have talked about. Maybe not. To be fair, a lot of the time the two did just sit in a comfortable silence._

_"Well, let me know what happens," he requested. "And, of course, you can message me if you need to."_

**_You can message me._ **

Virgil brought his phone out his pocket, and just managed to navigate to his messages with Logan, typing out a quick message with shaky hands.

**8:56 Virgil:** _help_

Immediately regretting his impulsive decision to text Logan that, he threw his phone to the floor a metre or so away. He swore he heard the sound of glass cracking. That thought was proven to be correct when his phone lit up, and he saw a crack running down the centre of his screen. Great.

Light flooded into the room. Virgil heard muffled voices outside, getting louder and louder, and footsteps echoing along the wooden floor, moving closer and closer. He grabbed his phone and shoved it in his pocket, before looking up to see what had happened. The door was wide open. A dark silhouette stood in the way of the light. Somebody had entered.

"I thought I-" The person stopped. His voice was one that Virgil didn't recognise, high-pitched and clear, calming in a way. But he clearly wasn't there for Virgil. He must have heard the glass or something and came to investigate. But then he noticed Virgil, and everything had gone wrong.

The stranger approached Virgil, crouching down so that he was eye level. But the room was dark, and Virgil could barely see him. Virgil tried to shuffle further back, but he was already right up against the wall.

"Are you okay?" the stranger asked, his soft voice filled with concern.

Virgil wanted to scream. To shout. To cry. To tell him that, no, he clearly wasn't okay. He could feel his eyeliner running down his face, indicating that he must have been crying. Ugh, that would be an amazing first impression.

"I'm going to take that as a no," the man said. "Is there anybody at this party who can help?"

"It's my goddamn party," Virgil mumbled, so quietly that surely the man couldn't have heard him.

And yet, he somehow had. "Wait, are you Virgil?"

Virgil nodded, slowly.

"How come you aren't out there, havin' fun?"

Virgil just pointed out the door, before bringing his legs up and wrapping his arms around them.

"You're overwhelmed," the man guessed.

Virgil nodded.

"Would it be better if I left?" he offered, beginning to stand up.

Virgil grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"You want me to stay?"

He nodded.

"Okay." The man sat down cross-legged, showing that he was willing to stay. "I'm Patton, by the way."

Virgil had managed to get his heartbeat back to normal, and the throbbing in his head had stopped. Maybe it was how calming Patton sounded, or just the fact that another person was there. Virgil lifted up a hand to wipe his tears away.

"Not much of a party person, huh?"

"Yeah, that, uh, that sounds right." Virgil's voice was deep and gravely, not sounding like it usually did at all. To be honest, he was almost surprised that he could speak at all.

"How come this is happening, then?"

Did this man really have to ask so many questions? Couldn't he have just left Virgil alone? Even so, Virgil still found himself replying.

"My idiot roommate thought it'd be a good idea."

"Roman, you mean?"

"No, I mean Venessa."

Patton looked confused.

"That was sarcasm. I do mean Roman."

"Oh." He laughed. "Roman is so nice, though. We've been friends for years. I'm sure if you just spoke to him-"

"I tried," Virgil interrupted. "He wouldn't let me get away with not celebrating my birthday."

Patton hummed. "Wait here a moment." He began to stand up. At first, Virgil protested, but stopped after Patton assured him that he would return.

Virgil took his phone out whilst he waited, seeing that Logan had messaged him back.

**8:57 Logan:** _Are you alright? Are you hurt? Do you want me to come round?_

Virgil failed to hold back a smile. Logan really did care about him, huh. He quickly typed out a response.

**9:14 Virgil:** _i'm fine now, don't worry. you don't need to come._

It took less than a second for Logan to respond.

**9:14 Logan:** _Okay, that's good. Do message me if you change your mind, though._

Virgil locked his phone, just as Patton walked back into the room. The loud noises had stopped, and the lights had calmed down. Maybe it was just because Virgil was in a better place.

"Come on out," Patton said, reaching out a hand. "It's safe, I promise."

Hesitantly, Virgil touched the ends of Patton's fingertips, and allowed Patton to then wrap his fingers through Virgil's. He pulled Virgil up and helped him out the room, never taking an eye off him. Once they reached the hallway, Virgil realised that Patton was right - it was safe. Nobody, not a single person, was there. They all must have gone home.

They found Roman waiting for them on the sofa, with a Disney movie ready to play on the TV. His favourite Disney movie, as well - The Black Cauldron. Various snacks were laid out on the coffee table. Blankets covered the floor. Patton dragged Virgil over and allowed him to sit down, before pilling the blankets on top of him and sitting down next to him.

Roman wrapped his arm around Virgil's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Virgil gave him a weak smile. "It's fine. I, uh, I'm not angry at you."

"I just wish this could have gone to plan," Roman said. "I told everyone to leave, though. And set this up. Sorry it isn't much."

"Dude," Virgil said in disbelief. "This is literally all I wanted. Our movie nights are the best."

Roman let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I hope you don't mind Patton staying, though?"

"I don't mind. He's... sweet."

Patton smiled. "Really? That's what you think?"

"Yeah. What you did back there was... really great," Virgil said, burying himself deeper into the blankets. He could see Patton blushing out the corner of his eye. "But, uh, how 'bout we start the movie?"

Roman pressed play, and wrapped his arm tighter around Virgil, who proceeded to lean on his shoulder. Patton joined the huddle, stroking through Virgil's hair in a calming, swirling motion. And just like that, Virgil could finally relax. He was safe.


End file.
